In partnership with Moses Structural Engineers, Ryerson University is hosting TimberFever – an intense design and construction competition. Taking inspiration from a reality television competition model, students had just 36 hours to build a wooden structure — based on an assigned design challenge — from the time they received their mission until completion. Taking place from September 20-23, the competition is now accepting volunteers from Ryerson University and the University of Toronto, with an application deadline of September 7.
TimberFever, which has doubled in size from previous years — now featuring teams from across Ontario — included students from University of Toronto, Carleton, Laurentian, Queen’s, Waterloo and Ryerson. Every team featured both Architectural Science and Civil Engineering students and was mentored by practising architects, engineers and representatives from the Carpenters’ District Council of Ontario. This year’s four-day competition featured 16 teams and 1,852 board feet of wood. Students were tasked with building a “Reading Room,” and over the course of the multi-day competition, demonstrated teamwork, communication, time-management, and woodworking skills.
TimberFever was inspired by the Defi Cecobois competition held annually by Cecobois in Quebec. Now in its fourth year, TimberFever brings architecture and civil engineering students from universities across Ontario together to build life-size structures out of wood, highlighting the natural material’s diverse potential applications as a construction material. The competition’s mission is also to create collaboration between students of architecture and engineering, while developing design, construction and communication skills that will be valuable to their future careers.
More information about this year’s TimberFever competition – including a link to sign up as a volunteer – is available via the official website, linked here.